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2022 was quite a year for Vint. Our growth and expansion of collections, growing investor base, and successful financing efforts have positioned us well moving into 2023.
Quickly zooming out, the fine wine and rare spirits industry saw strong performance relative to more traditional markets, demonstrating its utility as a hedge against the volatility prevalent in public equities. Vint capitalized on this strength and was able to make numerous partial or complete exits. Additionally, this year, our securitized assets rose from $1.2 million to $4.49 million. Our two complete exits included the sale of our 23 year old Bowmore cask (VV-BOWCK), which had a net return of 36.25% through a holding period of less than 12 months, and our California Collection (VV-0001), with a 12.34% gain.
Bolstering the war chest, Vint successfully closed a $5 million oversubscribed seed fundraising round led by Montage Ventures. We are well-capitalized, with excellent partners to accelerate our continued expansion. We are planning aggressively for the future, with a whole host of new opportunities in the pipeline. This is just the beginning.
The Market at a Glance
For the year, wine and spirits markets were very positive, with the Liv-ex 1000 gaining 13.6% through the end of November, and the Rare Whisky 101 gaining 8.06%. In comparison, The S&P 500 had a negative return of about 14.5% through the same time frame. Equities and bond markets saw considerable volatility from inflation fears, and the subsequent impact of central banks raising interest rates. Wine and spirits markets were far less impacted, showing their strength as a potential hedge against traditional markets.
The best performing wine regions were Burgundy and Champagne, which both posted over 20% gains, while whisky continues to be led by top names like Macallan, Karuizawa and Yamazaki as Scotch and Japanese whisky gain popularity worldwide. The Rare Whisky 101’s Japanese 100 index saw gains of 13.57% through November.
Ready For What’s Next
Moving into 2023, the Vint team expects top producers from each region to continue seeing strong performances, while the fine wine market as a whole stands to broaden with the ever improving quality of wine globally. Within the traditional old world regions, the heat and drought of recent years, combined with a few errant frosts, means a more prevalent risk of lower total production across key regions like Bordeaux and Champagne, playing into the factors of supply and demand, which could push prices higher.
Within our current holdings, we're excited to see the future performance of our St. Emilion Upgrade Collection, which is composed primarily of Chateau Figeac. If one references our original thesis, Vint predicted Figeac would be promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classe A during St. Emilion’s reclassification this year. This serves as a potential catalyst for price performance moving forward. Also on our radar is our 2020 Bordeaux Futures Collection, bought En Primeur (purchased while the wine was still in barrel), which will become physical bottles in 2023. Similar to purchasing oil futures, En Primeur is a strong tactic for realizing the long term performance of established labels with consistent performances.
Building Upon Our Progress
Vint is in a strong position to take full advantage of the momentum in the market. We have more than a dozen collections featuring wine and whiskies from around the world in our pipeline, and our team is working diligently to identify value-driven opportunities. From securing our seed funding, to scaling our team, to developing our network of buyers and sellers for improved liquidity, Vint is laying the groundwork to be the preeminent name within securitized wine and spirits investing.
This was a great year for Vint’s community. The breadth of collections we’ve been able to provide for investment has expanded rapidly, and the merit of our investment strategy was on full display as we were able to provide distributions on five collections ahead of schedule. We appreciate everyone who has put their faith in us, and wish you all a happy holiday season.
